Sellers Home Rocking Chair: Episode 4

Posted 3 March 2021

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The bent slats for the back support make the chair incredibly comfortable, so in this episode, we make the former that allows us to create the ‘S’ shaped slats. Paul walks you through the steps, from creating the hand-made slats all the way through to ‘inline’ tenon cutting and fitting on curved pieces.

BOOKMARKS:
PREPPING THE BACK RAILS – 00:07
SLAT GLUE UP AND TENONING – 07:38

Previous: Sellers Home Rocking Chair: Episode 3

20 Comments

  6. Certainly a pleasure to watch, and by making the slats with the thin strips does reduce the waste that would occur by cutting them as shaped pieces and as Paul said very strong. A very worthwhile lesson.
    Thanks to Paul and team

  9. I’m curious about that also. did you use the Paul Sellers thicknessing jig to get the 1/8” thickness or run them thru a planer, or ….?
    That step would have been useful to see.

    thanks

    Barry

    1. Hi Barry,

      Paul says:
      I think that it was well explained and shown. I showed roping on the bandsaw and then simply planing two faces on the benchtop with a bench plane. All of the components came from rough stock and were rough sized on the bandsaw and then planed freehand as might be expected by the audience.

      Izzy

  10. Hi Paul,
    Brilliant work. I’ve seen you use the bent laminations a few times now and feel comfortable with the technique. I’m curious about steam bending instead of lamination. Do you every steam bend? What would make you choose one method over the another? Many thanks.
    Sincerely,
    Joe

    1. Hi Joe,

      Paul says:

      I would not steam bend generally because it forces water into the wood so it is then wet and swollen. Laminated is stronger and the wood is good to go from the point that the glue is dried in the lamination.

      Izzy

  12. Paul, your drawing cutting list shows 28 strips of 5mm thickness each – so 4 strips of 5mm for each of the 7 seven slats. Your video however shows 5 strips being glued together.

    Which is preferable? 4 strips of 5mm or 5 strips of 4mm? Both would produce 20mm total thickness. Using 4 strips would create less waste, but using 5 thinner strips uses more glue, but might perhaps be easier to clamp up as it would be more flexible. I’m using Oak.

    Also – any tips/tricks on how to secure these long thin strips so they can be planed? They are too thin to hold in a vice, and clamp(s) would get in the way. I will be ripping them off stock using a bandsaw, but I think it would be good to plane off at least the worst of the saw marks before gluing?

    Thanks.

    1. Hi Martin, The drawings are based upon Paul’s original drawings. It may have been that when he made the chair he realised that 4 strips would be too thin and added an extra strip. You could do the same.

      Clamping at one end and planing away from the clamp as much as possible.

    2. The way I interpreted the video was to rough cut them to 3/16 or 5mm (over thick) to allow for variances in the cut on the band saw. That gives you some leeway to plane them to the final thickness (1/8 or 4mm). Once they are planed you can combine them to get to the overall final thickness of the rocker.

  13. HI Paul,
    I have made all of the back slats. I have looked at them up one side and down the other as well as front and back. For some reason I can’t for the life of me determine which end should be up and which side should be facing the front. I made the form per the drawing. There are two radii (a short and a long). Which is supposed to be the top and does it face with the curve toward the front or back of the chair?
    Thanks,
    Roy

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